The St. Johns herald., 1887-06-30
COUNTERFEIT COIN.
How Spurious Money Is Made in \. Y. Ci

How bporsous Money IS Made m ~. \. Sit5.
 CounteIfeitlng United s ates coins and bills i= said tO be carr cd on TOW as much as formerly, says the New York Commer- cial Adye tise-, but there have been many chang-e in it's methods and the manner of getting rid of tue queer when made.
 The days of the hidden nook in the mountail, where in hut the exp IL maker o! base coins c.srried On Ei7 ne farious tra ie V tn door carefully btrri- cadsd a ril;s and receivers lyi-g about within e.Lsy reach, are -v'.r. Now the coin is made mostly in Ii s, aud that too in cIowGel neighborhoods.
 In t.,e making of bad coins i'll this city the I,al.ans have q monopoly, an it is aga nst he It3lian Workmen that Chief D umn. ond, of theS cret Servsce BurelH in t:.is city, Is kept busy, procuring eyi- dence and bringing them to court. AL mot without exception, every Itall..n counterfeiter arrested in this city during the last tn co y,ars-and there have been many of them captured-ha5 said that he came from Sicily.
 They are, as @ rule, dull-l0Oking, ig- norart fellows, notwithstanding their skill in f.rni-h ng and manufacturing tie coins Most frequently they have a little knowledge of the jewelry trade. and apparently they take as nstusally to counterf.iting as fish to water. 4 num- Der of ItaiiaIs in this city who are not makers of bad cnins are always ready to mass those made by others, and tho skiIled devl CT of illegitimate money is to them hero.
 HOW THE COINS ARE MADE.
 
 T workman hires a flat in tene- mcnt, into which he moves his family, ser ying one room as a workshop.
 H.. lnys inastock of antimoBy, plaster or paris, moulds, 8 lathe, and ether ap- plances, and is ready for busincss. Rarely do hIs neighbors suspect that anything is wrong. He takes good coin for pattsrn, and soon ha5 tho room filled with the coins in various stages Of construction.
 Never does the maker attempt to pass the oney himself. He either sells 1t 10 the paSscr or, more frequently, to middle man. For this reason 1t IS diili- cult ia got at the makers, and tile Se- cret s rvice detectives are always happy when they find workshop with kit of tools and good supply of stock. The middle men soil to the man who does the passing.
 Bad coin can be bought at tho rate of S4 for ten bad dollars, though higher prices are usually charged it first. When the passer gets the coin he usually freGuen thes side streets, where in small cigar stores and confectionery shops he passes off his spurious dOllals, etc, in payment for small articles, thus IeCeiv- ing good money in change.
 The law requires that intent to de- ceive" must be proven against the of- fender, and for this reason the counter felt money passers go often in pairs.
 Ono man carries the coin. He deals 1t out one coin at time to his companion, who enters the shop, whilo the other re- mnins outside. Thus if the passcr is ar rested no other bad coins will bo found on his person. and ho can assert that h+ did Lot know that the one coin he had offered in payment was bad. Many e6- cspc conviction by this method.
 THE MEN WHO PASS THE cOUNTRRFEITs.
 The fruit stand Italians arc usually interruptions in working of bad money, though they seldom have stock of any thing of larger denomination than dimes and quarters. More than hall of the small coin that Is bad works It's way into circulation through these fellows.
 You tell the vendcr tlat the coin Is bad. and ho will immediately cry out:
 "Me no tell bada money; me ju3t come from Italy"
 Comparatively few arrests gre made on complaint of tho pol ce V hen bad money $ received anYittingly, few hesl- tate to pass l. on. There is cheap res I;-urant ko per oa tl,o old Chatham [ eet @ho, every icw weeks, brings all the bad .'oins he has taken in down to the Secret perv.ce Bureau in thc Post Office build- ii@ Very few take thiS trouble.
 There is an erroneous idea abroad that he Government makes good tho bad Glonoy received. This is Q mistake. Tho Government on"sca:es all bad coins. and the only rcl!ot of the person imposed upon is civil suit in one of tho District courts against the passcr T the vaiue f the money lost.
 The paSser of counterfeit money, when convicted, may receive as heavy 8 sen tcare as ten years in State prison and a Ane o $1,u00.
 Apparently thcro is an attractlveness about making the coin, and when dls- charged from r ison tho manufacturer almost invariably goes back to the olI bnS S:neSS.